Binh Thuan to organize int’l yacht festival in Oct

2010-06-16 (GMT + 7)

The coastal province of Binh Thuan will organize the International Yacht Festival 2010 on October 21 to 24 at Mui Ne Beach, which will be the biggest tourism event of the province this year, a tourism official said.

Le Thi Thanh Lien, deputy director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the event would attract more than 100 yachts from 20 countries to perform every day through Muine – Ham Tien beach and extend to Tuy Phong and Lagi.Along with the yacht performances, festivities like music, art and culture activities will also take place during the festival. The organizing committee has invited some foreign music bands to perform there.The event will comprise other activities like a yacht exhibition, a conference about the yacht industry with the participation of many yacht manufacturing companies, and another conference on developing a brand name for Vietnam’s sea tourism.“All of people can enjoy the performance. It’s free for every one. We want to organize the event to woo both local and foreign visitors to Binh Thuan,” she said.Lien said the organizing committee would spend a big sum on the event but all of the money would come from sponsors. The province has invited foreign television channels from Russia, Japan, the U.S, and England among others to visit Binh Thuan on the occasion.The province will also organize promotion program for the event in Ho Chi Minh city(HCMC) and Hanoi in the coming time, she said: “We want to promote Vietnam travel image via the event as well as develop sea sports services to enrich the province’s tourism products. We expect to make the festival an annual tourism event.The department estimates that around 1.3 million local and foreign tourists have visited Binh Thuan so far this year, generating tourism revenue of some VND1.15 trillion. The province expects to welcome around 2.5 million tourists this year.Binh Thuan is not the only one locality to host a yachts event.Months ago, the coastal province of Khanh Hoa had announced that Vietnam would be the 8th destination of the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), the leading professional sailing series featuring nine World Championship events across the globe. The province’s Nha Trang City has been chosen a venue for the race to take place from September 21 to 26.This is the first time the world’s leading yacht race series comes to Vietnam. The local name for the event in Vietnam is Vietnam Match Cup.